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Chopped Liver?
Join Date: Jun-2004
Location: Hurstbridge
Country: DownUnda
Posts: 1,557
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Pruning and Wiring.
Morning all. Sorry it's taken so long, but here is the bit about wiring and pruning. I hope to follow up with a pictorial guide soon.
Thanks.
FlyBri.
PS: Schneum - I have never tried to grow Eucs indoors, but then again why would I? I would be wary of keeping any tree in a centrally heated home, but especially a tree which comes from a region where the daytime temperature can reach 45-50°C and night time temps can be below freezing.
PPS: That's right Nic - I'm saying that I've had success repotting any time with the removal of all the foliage (and even success by removing all foliage but the 1st leaves on every branch).
PPPS: Good luck with your collecting Robert. Try to dig trees which have grown in moist conditions, as their root systems should be more compact and easily collectable. San Diego has a climate much like ours here in Melbourne, if my memory serves me correctly. Do you know which species of Euc you have growing there? When I was on the West Coast of the US in 1989, I did notice all the Eucs growing there, but was not educated or interested enough to identify them...
Pruning and Wiring
Let me preface this section by stating that – once again – the bulk of the information I have gleaned about the subject has come from Dorothy and Vita Koreshoff’s book, ‘Bonsai with Australian Native Plants’ (1983, Boolarong Publications). Usually in Bonsai literature, the subjects of ‘Pruning’ and ‘Wiring’ are separated into two categories, but the general growth habits of Eucs require that both processes go hand-in-hand. As the Koreshoffs state: “Many Australian trees show strong tendencies to grow upwards, often at the expense of the lower branches and any horizontal or drooping growth… it is important to use pruning [and wiring – FlyBri] to direct vigour in order to create and maintain acceptable Bonsai form.” I have followed their guidelines (with a few minor exceptions) and am yet to lose a branch due to improper pruning/wiring.
As mentioned above, many Eucs display a tendency to grow straight upwards, especially when putting on vigorous adventitious growth. Also, the general ability of Eucs to recover from fire means that there are countless sites from which such growth should occur after pruning – making backbudding a simple task. (Eucs which do not backbud readily when healthy should be abandoned as unsuitable material, as backbudding is an integral part of branch ramification.) Such growth can be useful in the development of trunk lines and trunk girth, as well as the creation of new branches, but it is important to keep it in check by wiring down towards the horizontal and/or pinching back to one or two sets of leaves. According to the Koreshoffs, failure to do so can result in the loss of established branches lower down the tree, as nutrients and water are preferentially transported to the more active new growth.
Eucalypts may be pruned quite heavily, and even back to bare wood, but the Koreshoffs advise that this only be done “just prior to regrowth, when the leaf buds are swollen. This is most important. If you cut back to bare wood after the new growth has started, the branch will die back.” I have not strictly adhered to this advice, and I have pruned when I thought it was needed. I have yet to see any ill effects, but I am most probably not using material of the age and calibre of which they are speaking. When pruning large branches and trunks (10mm or greater), I prefer to leave a ‘stump’ or ‘collar’ intact rather than hollowing out the cut – the collar may be removed at a later stage, once the tree has begun to heal. (A feature of many Eucs in the wild is the ‘knuckly’ appearance of trunks and branches due to the collars remaining intact when branches are shed.)
It is important to bear in mind that the adventitious growth on many Eucs can be quite long and leggy, with long internodes on which no budding will occur. As with other species, early pinching of new growth will keep the internodes short, as well as encouraging angular, better ramified growth. When pruning or pinching fine growth, I like to cut just before the node in order to prevent die-back of the leaves which are left intact. With time, the stem which is left over will wither and fall off.
My current approach to the wiring of Eucalypts (and my trees generally) is not to use anodized aluminium wire on the branches themselves, but to use ‘guy wires’ attached to the rim of the pot and the ends of branches, then twisted to pull branches downward. I am not against the more ‘traditional’ wiring, but I find that the combination of ‘clip and grow’ techniques plus the guy wiring of branches simulates the effects of gravity and age quite sufficiently. Besides that, the new growth on many Eucs is so fine as to be very difficult to wrap wire around, and the rapid thickening of such growth means that there is the ever present risk of wire scarring. Another warning comes from the Koreshoffs about the positioning of branches when wiring: “There are many species that sometimes shed their branches when they are positioned below the horizontal, and no amount of pruning back upward growth will help the weakened branch regain its vitality. In most cases, you will find that it keeps shooting from the base of the branch.”
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